Library: combat

This is a very complex field, and writing a complete book about this is virtually imposible. I will at least try to outline the fundementals. In the past, I've had some troubles translating the technical terms into English, but I do my best. First, understand how systems work. Power generated by the Engine and other auxilary power generation systems is stored electrically in the "loop" or "pool". The pilot allocates power to different systems, using the controls. The "coupling" feeds the other systems power, as the pilot requests. One of the important things to do in combat is to make adjustments to power distribution. Typically, a "meter" or "display" is used to monitor the avaliable power. The meter has a red bar that fills the background, and a red and blue bar in front of the bar. The red bar rises as power input rises, the blue as power use rises, and the red bar as the amount of extra power stored in the pool rises. So if the red bar is above the blue bar, the background red bar rises, otherwise it falls. Certain systems, such as weaponry, are coupled directly to the pool. These systems draw power quickly for a short time. When this happens, the red background bar on the power meter will drop. If the red bar hits the bottom of the display, these systems will not function, and there may also be a power outage. If this happen, systems which don't have their own built-in backup may stop functioning. Vital systems such as lighting or sensors typically have a built-in backup that functions for a minute or so before needing to be recharged. Next, understand manuevering. On the typical pilot's control panel, there are two "joysticks" and one "lever". The lever is the main drive power. As you push it up further, you will increase forward acceleration, and as you pull it back, your forward acceleration will decrease. The two joysticks are typically linked to "maneuvering" thrusters, but they may simply control a "vectoring system" for the main drive, or both. Put the stick in the position you want the thruster to fire in, and press the button on the front of the stick. The harder you press the button, the more "force" that thruster will propell you with. For instance, For instance, placing both sticks in the "up" position and pressing both buttons will start to pitch up, pulling both sticks down (opposite position) and pressing each button will stop the pitching up. I think this is the reverse of an aeroplane here. For instance, to do a "braking" maneuver, I first hold down the buttons on the sticks as far as I can and pull down on them. When the ship is pointing straight down, push the sticks all the way up and it should stop turning when it is pointed in reverse from where it started. Push the lever up to fire the main drive until the speed drops. Typically, the lever on the right will spring back down if you let go of it. You can lock the lever on the right in its current position by pressing the red button on the left of the lever. q Weapon fire is the next thing that is important to understand. Typically, weapon fire is done by a different person at the controls, called a "gunner". If a gunner is not avaliable, some ships have gun controls also on the "pilot's panel". But every ship is at least gauranteed to have an "automatic fire system". You invoke this system by pressing the red button between the two control sticks. The system decides which weaponry to fire by taking into account range, relative speed, avaliable power, and other factors. In some ships, two foot petals are located at the pilot's station. The right one is the main drive thrust level described above, and the left one is the same as the auto fire button. This allows use of both the manuevering sticks as well as the main drive and the weaponry at one time. If a standard weapon's panel or standard gunner's panel is avaliable, this is how it works. Each weapon has a bar on the panel, which has a light display, a number readout, and a lockable button. The screen, and an associated joystick is used for manual targeting. Typically, the "ballistics computer" or "weapon-targeting system" will choose the nearest craft to the center of the screen as its target. But there are many other factor taken into account, such as "Friend-or-Foe identification" and such. You can manually select targets by moving the joystick around and pressing the button on the joystick. The bars will light up depending on the effectiveness of that weapon, depending on range, relative speed, and other variables. When all ten bars are lit, the weapon is basically gauranteed to hit the target. The numerical display represents the amount of ammo avaliable for that weapon (if applicable). Certain systems may regenerate their own ammo. This readout is not in english, you may wish to have a translation list for the numbers handy. Finally, to fire the weapon, release the button and press it. Some weapon fire continuosly (hold the button down), others fire instantaneously and can't be refired for a while. Others you will have to hold down the button for some amount of time before they fire. It depends on the type of weapon. Other displays placed in the bar for each weapon are specific to that weapon type. The final main combat systems to understand are defensive systems. Defensive systems are probably the hardest to understand and manage. Think of a defense system simply as something that puts or keeps something between the vital insides of your ship and an enemy ship firing a weapon. Exactly how it does this ranges from simple armor, or strong meteriel that coats the outer part of the ship, to regenerative "matter grids", or a "cell/membrane[1] field". Regenerative or "field" systems are extremely complex and controlled by an optimized computer systems. Armor itself is a passive system, and requires no control. A "matter grid" forms a wall of solid matter or "stuff" between the body of the ship and a certain portion of the outside. A typical ship will have 6-8 grids, but the most common configuration is front-right, front-left, rear-right, rear-left, top, and bottom. The more power that is allocated to the system by the pilot, the faster the grid will "fill" or regenerate. Since the grid is diffuse, a concentrated weapon fire may break through a part of it just as weapon fire breaks through armor. These grids shouldn't be considered too much different than armor, except that given time and power they can recuperate. A "cell/membrane field" is a powerful field which surrounds the ship totally. These are not spherical, but more of a highly contorted sphere drawn toward elongated points on the front and rear of the ship. The latest models have a computer which focuses the power of the field at the specific point of weapon-fire impact. These systems will have a pool of their own that they draw from as they try to neutralize the weapon fire. They also draw power from the main pool porportional to the amount of power in their own pool (this is used for "sustanence"). In other words, just keeping the "membrane" shield at 100% pool (full power) will draw a set amount of energy from the main pool. The only up-side of this is that sometimes the mere "sustainence" energy can neutralize a weapons-fire hit completely, so that no energy is lost from the device pool. The interface to using these devices is simple. At the pilot's station there is a drawing of the ship, with lights and lines denoting the grids. A circular line around the whole ship denotes the membrane shield/field which is the first line of defense against weapon fire. There will be numeric or bar displays to denote actual pools, and for grids, the lines will get thinner and thinner at a certain point as the grid nears penetration, finally disappearing and turning to a gap if the grid has been penetrated and needs to be regenerated. In some cases, you maybe be able to control which grid to distribute power to, this is done using switches or levers to the side of the screen. The membrane sheild might be penetrated at any time with weapon-fire, but the chance of penetration is lower when more power is stored in it's individual pool. History and Specific uses of ship-based weaponry is covered in another book. This book was written by Ran.

Login to BatWeb

Forgot your password?